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I rebuilt my engine and clutch about two years. I went online to Ebay and purchased a clutch kit to include pressure plate, clutch disc, release bearing, pilot bearing, and alignment tool for about $75 which included shipping.

if you are just doing a clutch,pull the radiator, undo the motor mounts, the heater core lines,the y pipe, the starter, and the engine to case bolts. jack up and slide the engine forward till you can get at the clutch. it might be hard to get a clutch alignment tool in there so just leave the pressure plate bolts loose and tighten them through the starter hole once its back together. its going to take some creative jack work and motor wiggling but it will go back together, its helpful to jack the trans up also. so they can go back together without jamming on the motor mounts,you could also remove the motor mounts and re install them once the engine and trans is back together.

I've done a couple like this, mostly on beateroos and it takes about 4 hrs if you know what your doing.

I would vote for pulling the engine, but to pull the trans, remove the shifter, drop the carrier bearing and the driveshaft, and unplug all the electrical connections to the trans. Then you will want to drop the exhaust header pipe. Now you can remove the roll pins on the axles with a 3/16 drift punch. revove one of the ball oints or control arm link to allow room to slide the axles from the trans, you should have wiggle room to do the other side. From here you can undo the bolts to the trans crossmember and lower it down. Leave the crossmember bolted to the the trans.

remember to make sure the roll pin holes line up the correct way when reinstalling. The trans may be hard to find the pilot hole and thus much frustrating wiggling.

On the motor side, you may have to reinstall the pitch bar or put a block of wood in front of the negine to angle it back to install the trans.

I would only recommend pulling the trans if you have a lift. Now you can see where pulling the engine is more efficient. You still have the same bell housing bolts, but you dont have to separate the exhaust at the donut gaskets, pull ball joints and axles, and tear the console apart to get at the shifter.

Just the same 4 bolts and then the 2 engine studs, fuel hoses, coolant hoses, a few electrical plugs, and you have access to the whole motor if you feel like doing water pumps and cam seals, which you may as well do since the motor will sit in a milk crate of 5 gallon bucket

You do NOT need to remove balljoints, control arm, or any front suspension to drop the trans out the bottom.

Pop out the pins, prepare everything else, and then as the trans is pulled back and down slightly, you can push it to one side, slide off an axle, then push it to the other side.

Reinstall is the reverse. Easier with 2 people and a good tranny jack.

Tranny jack is cheaper, and smaller to store than an engine hoist.

I really do not understand the "easier to pull the engine" philosophy of clutch replacement. Unless there is a good reason to pull the engine, leave it in place and save yourself the coolant, and fuel line removal.

You don't have to pull the motor, just lift it about two inches and slide it forward about eight inches. You have the same amount of workspace that is accessible from the top. It can all be done standing up. I can do this alone, even at my whopping 110 pounds! I've also done a tranny swap, which wasn't too bad, but for just a clutch I would vote for just sliding the motor forward.

Dropping the trans requires working laying on your back the entire time, including any lifting or shifting of the trans...

It can be done both ways, so decide which is easier for you. Leaving hoses and wiring in place on the motor sounds good? Drop the trans. Doing the whole kit-and-kaboodle without laying on your back or having to put the car up on jack-stands? Slide the motor forward. It's apples and oranges, not life-or-death.

As for alignment tools, grab a sparkplug from the motor. Any of the sparkplugs in your motor will work. Insulation goes in, spark point out. Ceramic bit fits in the pilot bearing hole, and the wrenchy-angly bit of the plug fits in the hole in the clutch plate. Line 'er up, snug down the pressure plate, put the plug back in the motor. Get everything put mated-up and put together. Final tighten through the starter hole (requires turning the motor by hand, use a 22mm wrench on the crankshaft pulley). Done. That's it.

Gloyale is correct in the stuff for trans drop. No need to mess with front suspension. Just drop the exhaust at the heads, drive shaft at its center-mount point, linkage, and roll pins. Undo the four bellhousing bolts and wiring on the trans (very basic, and all connectors are unique from each other). Can be done solo, though I recommend someone be nearby in case things go south.

Gloyale is correct in the stuff for trans drop. No need to mess with front suspension. Just drop the exhaust at the heads, drive shaft at its center-mount point, linkage, and roll pins. Undo the four bellhousing bolts and wiring on the trans (very basic, and all connectors are unique from each other). Can be done solo, though I recommend someone be nearby in case things go south.

Depends on your method and experience. I have don these either way. The last trans swap i did i had disconnected the suspension because i was swapping struts anyway.

You can remove the trans without removing the suspension as you can get some wiggle room my mofing the trans back and forth, but this is easiest with the engine out (if you were removing the trans.)

And yes, you can just move the engine forward enough to get at the clutch without disconnecting a lot of hoses, cables, or harnesses. I would only recommend this if you were already familiar with pulling soob engines so you know what to predict, and this requires a crane

out of any of these options, pulling the motor is easiest, provided that space and access to an engine crane is not difficult. Vs just sliding the engine forward, it is only a few more steps to yank the engine if you wanted to put it on a stand and do all of the seals. Well worth it if you are considering the oil pan gasket. Do the cam tower o-rings if you are ambitious

I have done clutch jobs w/o removing the y-pipe, or any engine mounts. Just bolted up a fabbed up metal plate to the skid plate and slide the tranny back on it. Its a lot eaisier to pitch the engine forward, but, It can be a nightmare trying to re-install your y-pipe here in the rust belt. Doing a helicoil, re-tapping threads, ect can be more work and frustration than bolting up a new disc/pressure plate.

I don't know if it's an issue with EA cars, but on EJs you run the risk of snapping the capture nuts for the tranny crossmember loose if you drop the trans. Has happened to me on BOTH EJ cars I've dropped transmissions on. Never again.